A partial review of electricity distribution reliability based vegetation management in North America

Abstract

In recent years, utility vegetation management planners have incorporated a new framework into planning regimes: reliability based vegetation management. This report examines the vegetation management standards of forty North American electricity distributors. Distribution utility vegetation management planners, utility foresters, reliability specialists, and other delegates from the sample provided information related to their respective vegetation management programs. Company profiles and statistics were generated using this information. Study results indicate that, although all vegetation management standards of sample participants exhibit similarities, the ways in which each distributor approaches reliability based vegetation management differ.